I won't answer for anything."
Again he puffed and blew like a walrus.
"I won't answer for anything!…If Erik's secrets cease to be Erik's secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER OF THE HUMAN RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you are a great booby, it ought to be enough for you…except that you don't know how to take a hint."
He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his heels against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer.
I simply said:
"It's not Erik that I'm after here!"
"Who then?"
"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered.
He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house.
I am loved for my own sake."
"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are keeping her locked up."
"Listen," h
